Luna on Windows (open beta) released.

[eerie_audio]

Two questions. Do you think UAD Luna on windows is going to take business from other DAW's once it get's stable. Lastly, everyone is getting bought out. Will UAD be sold in the future?

I think Luna caters to the analog recording side of things more than anything, but it can be used to song write, mix and master. How efficient it is for electronic music is pretty low. It would be a great companion with other genres, but it could do a decent job if you're willing to give up all your hot keys, shortcuts, workflow, etc. It can be done, but how badly does anyone want to learn a whole new DAW and workflow is the question. I could also see it being used along side your main DAW and used to stem mix or record, etc. I currently just mess around trying to get familiar from time to time, I still find S1 a great place to make songs.

UAD might be the buyer, who knows, having a Windows version only opens up more doors. They have a pretty good ecosystem at the moment. I can see the same kind of effect happening if Behringer releases their version of a DAW too.

[havran]

I really like the looks of Luna, and it's laid out with things located where I would want them to be. Too bad for me that I have just subscribed to Pro Tools Artist for a year and am trying to stick with one DAW instead of scattering my attention, but Luna does look very nice.

P.S. -- I wonder if UAD's Luna for Windows might nudge Avid toward finally making Pro Tools look as good on Windows as it does on Mac (i.e., getting rid of the Windows-XP-style borders for the sub-windows).

[concealed identity]

Really annoying that if you try this, it adds a bunch of demo plugins to your UA Connect (and iLok) that you can't remove

[jonljacobi]

I really like the looks of Luna, and it's laid out with things located where I would want them to be. Too bad for me that I have just subscribed to Pro Tools Artist for a year and am trying to stick with one DAW instead of scattering my attention, but Luna does look very nice.

P.S. -- I wonder if UAD's Luna for Windows might nudge Avid toward finally making Pro Tools look as good on Windows as it does on Mac (i.e., getting rid of the Windows-XP-style borders for the sub-windows).

Specifically designed with Pro Tools users in mind. Same key commands, etc. It's also a loss leader for the UAD plug-in ecosystem.

[havran]

It's also a loss leader for the UAD plug-in ecosystem.

Yes, that certainly seems to be the case!

During my initial poking around in Luna's interface and preferences, I didn't see any indication that it could use non-UAD plugins. But UAD's FAQ for the Luna Beta does say that VST3 plugins are supported.

I wouldn't mind sending them some money for a plugin bundle during the summer sale, but the bundles I'm looking at have too much overlap with emulations I already have -- plus I'm just a hobbyist. I don't have a recording booth in my house, for instance.

[havran]

Really annoying that if you try this, it adds a bunch of demo plugins to your UA Connect (and iLok) that you can't remove

I counted 14 plugins in addition to Luna itself. Those extra activations ended up in my iLok Cloud because I didn't have my dongle plugged in at the time. That's fine with me. And even if they had ended up on my iLok dongle, the 3rd generation of those can hold about 1500 licenses.

[havran]

Hmm. I think an advantage of buying UAD plugins (or maybe subscribing to UAD Spark) is that they would be much more integrated into Luna's interface than third-party plugins would be.

[seafire]

Ilok account required for a freebie?

No thanks. Pass

[Valkasman]

I only ever used a plugin with iLok a few times and wasn't really a fan of it.

[lotus2035]

All quiet on the LUNA front?
Nice software and very enticing.
This whole 'free' thing makes me nervous though. Will there be some catch further down the road?
I couldn't fully get behind a switch unless I knew for sure.
I felt the same way about Cakewalk by Bandlab and those concerns were actualized, It's still usable of course but development left the building for paid versions.

[macmuse]

All quiet on the LUNA front?
Nice software and very enticing.
This whole 'free' thing makes me nervous though. Will there be some catch further down the road?
I couldn't fully get behind a switch unless I knew for sure.
I felt the same way about Cakewalk by Bandlab and those concerns were actualized, It's still usable of course but development left the building for paid versions.

It seems to me the free version introduces the workflow, but the paid version, because of its included built-in extensions, is where the real interest lies.

[J Veronica]

If they make a proper piano roll I'd consider making the jump.

[havran]

I wish UAD sold just the (native) LUNA extensions as a bundle separate from anything else, to avoid overlap when buying a different UAD bundle.

[jamcat]

Isn't that the LUNA Pro Bundle*?

* Neve Summing sold separately

[havran]

Isn't that the LUNA Pro Bundle*?

The LUNA Pro Bundle includes some plugins in addition to the five or so extensions, which means that there would be some overlap with some of UAD's other bundles.